CITTA Success Story: Baby Care Products GrandMa Approved & Backed by Modern Science

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CITTA Success Story

The baby care products market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.11%, from 2020 to 2025. There is a growing awareness in parents about the health and hygiene of babies. Costomers are highly inclined towards natural and organic baby care products. There is huge demand of products with organic ingredients that have significant health benefits and are non-allergic to babies. These types of products are boosting the demand of skin-friendly baby care products in India.

CITTA is a brand owned by the Lexicon Group of Pune that offers baby bath and skincare products. Their products are made with natural ingredients with the fusion of modern science to provide safety, care, nourishment, and love to babies.

Read the startup story of CITTA, products, founders, business model, and more.

CITTA - Company Highlights

Startup Name-CITTA
Headquarters-Pune
Industry-FMCG - Baby Bath and Skin
Found-Monisha Sharma and Akanksha Sharma
Founded-2021
Parent Organisation-Lexicon Group
Website-cittaworld.com

CITTA - About

CITTA is a premium quality natural baby bath and skin care brand that is safe and tested. They are traditionalizing the experience of childcare for every modern parent by taking inspiration from the nuskhes [natural remedies] and love that our grandmothers showered us with. By researching the ancient rituals used in India for centuries to provide natural childcare, they have managed to modernize it by specially formulating products with high-quality ingredients most of which are Eco-Certifed and/or COSMOS certified. They understand that a baby is the most pure and precious thing in the world and so their safety is the priority, which they ensure by extensive testing that every batch of their lab-formulated product undergoes. CITTA provides each baby with the safety, care, nourishment and love exactly like a grandmother does, which is why they are 100% Grandma Approved.

They believe in 100% transparency, they are absolutely honest about every ingredient they use and mention the same on their products. When you start using CITTA’s products on your baby, CITTA becomes a part of your child’s life and so it also becomes their duty to protect and ensure that every child is safe and get benefits from their products.

CITTA - Industry

They began their research online by understanding the market size and audience using reports like Deloitte. After they understood their target audience a little and the basic market size, they worked with the Lexicon Center for Research and Innovation who helped them conduct further detailed research.

CITTA - Founders and Team

CITTA was co-founded by a mother and daughter duo - Monisha and Akanksha Sharma.

Monisha Sharma completed her B.Tech in Cosmetics and is the Director of the Lexicon Schools, along with being the co-founder of CITTA.

Akanksha Sharma completed her Bachelors in Creative Industry Studies from FIDM, Los Angeles and is the co-founder and CEO of CITTA

Together, their dream is to create an honest and natural brand that combines Indian traditions for the modern user. The team has 9 people including the founders. One thing they all have in common is that they are all dedicated towards growing CITTA and work passionately, they call themselves the CITTA family.

CITTA - The Idea and Startup Story

Akanksha Sharma was studying in the US when she heard the news about the ongoing case of a certain baby care company. It really disturbed her. Babies are the most innocent beings and it's our job to protect them so anything we apply on them needs to be 100% safe. Growing up in a large family of 10, she had the opportunity to receive the love and knowledge of her dadi and nani and all their nuskhas. She wanted to share it with every precious little child. When she came back from the US, with the help of my mother, who studied cosmetic technology they decided to create CITTA, a natural and safe option for parents where tradition is backed by modern science. They were able to connect with a research and development lab with over 25 years of experience. Then they conducted research on the ingredients and traditions across India. Post that the formulations they developed and tested, they worked on this for over 15 months to perfect the formulations. Only after they were satisfied with the formulas, they go into manufacturing at a safe and GMP-certified facility. Today their extensive journey is yielding great results as doctors across Pune are appreciating and recommending CITTA products.

CITTA - Name and Logo

CITTA is inspired from a sanskrit word ‘Chitt’ which means consciousness. They hope that everyone is extremely aware and conscious about what they apply on themselves and their baby’s skin and it ties them to our Indian heritage.

Akanksha Sharma, the CEO actually made the logo herself, it's meant to reflect the simplicity and premium quality and ingredients.

CITTA - Products

Their natural premium babycare products range consists of,

Moisturizing Baby Balm- the first of its kind in India, which provides longer lasting moisturization than a cream, with 7 natural oils, Vit E and goodness of Shea Butter.

Gentle Foaming Baby Shampoo - the 1st Indian natural foaming shampoo for babies with the goodness of oats and almond oil, No tears.

Tender Foaming Baby Wash - the 1st Indian foaming baby wash with aloe vera and coconut for increased moisturisation and rice protein for natural cleansing.

Soothing Talc-Free Baby Powder - Talc-free with cornflour and oat silk

Nourishing Baby Massage Oil - a unique blend of 12 Nourishing Oils and Vitamin E.

A majority of the ingredients are ECOCERT and/or COSMOS and/or NATRUE certified. They, at CITTA, believe in creating a 100% vegetarian brand with raw materials which are strictly sourced from suppliers that DO NOT test on animals and are 100% cruelty-free. All their products are innovated so that they are more convent for the parent and bottles tradition, eg. Most baby shampoos are thick and need to be mixed with water and then applied to the baby’s hair, since CITTA baby shampoo are foams, they can be directly applied to the baby’s hair. It also has almond, olive, and coconut oil to keep their hair soft and nourished.

CITTA - Business Model and Revenue Model

CITTA is an FMCG company and are reliant on e-commrece at the moment. They are available on multiple reputed platforms like Amazon, FirstCry, Flipkart, JioMart and more. They are also available in medical stores across Pune city, and are recommended by pediatricians and dermatologists. CITTA is in a unique market space, since very few premium baby care brands exist in the baby bath and skincare category, however premium ingredient quality leads to premium pricing.

Here’s a list of their products and their MRPs, however they run seasonal discounts and offer promotional pricing at in-store purchases.

1.Moisturising Baby Balm 200gm - Rs.1099

2.Nourishing Baby Massage Oil 200ml - Rs.999

3.Tender Foaming Baby Wash 150ml - Rs. 799

4.Gentle Foaming Baby Shampoo- No Tears 150ml - Rs. 759

5.Talc- Free Baby Powder 200gm - Rs.659

Their commission varies for every marketplace.

CITTA - Customer Acquisition

They launched initially by creating social media handles and their website. However quite early they started working with channel partners like Amazon. Creating awareness using Instagram and Facebook worked well for them, but the most precious thing for them is word of mouth and they are receiving wonderful feedback fom most sources, who are passing the word forward.

A decent chunk of their orders are from returning customers, so retaining consumers is easier when genuine quality is provided and products show effective results. However to attract new consumers they market on various social media platforms, as well as Google and the newspaper.

They recently took part in their first offline event in Pune and it turned out quite successful. On the very first day of the two-day event the hero product of CITTA- the Moisturising Baby Balm, which is the highest priced product, got sold out! They believe that they have created products that are solving genuine consumers' issues and hence they are trying to take a more direct approach to marketing. As for collaborations they believe in grabbing any opportunities that come their way!

CITTA - Challenges Faced

They began right in the middle of the lockdown where vendors were far and few and timelines were very difficult, the price of materials had shot up exponentially due to trade barriers and lack of resources. Another issue was that most vendors required huge minimum orders and as a new and bootstrapped company they couldn’t produce too much or invest so much in materials, so it was a struggle to find vendors. However, they were able to find a few vendors who believed in their vision when they explained their brand values to them and that’s how they started their journey. The effects of the Covid induced lull in the market but things are looking positive now and they are optimistic about the future.

CITTA - Marketing Strategy

Their best marketing campaigns have been the ones where they have shared people’s honest feedback about the product, so consumer testimonials and proof has yielded good results. Also sharing their brand story has helped in explaining to people how and why CITTA was created.

CITTA - Growth

Currently, they are available across India on e-commerce sites like website and on marketplaces like Amazon, FirstCry, Flipkart and they are joining other platforms as well. They are also available offline in their home city of Pune. They are available in medical stores and they are in process of collaborating with a large medical chain across India. They are associated with premium maternity and childcare hospitals in the city and are being recommended by top doctors of the city. They are also starting to work with mom-influencers who are careful about what they recommend to their audience. They hope to expand offline to other top cities in India and market more heavily using digital and traditional methods.

CITTA - Advisors and Mentors

Since Mrs.Monisha Sharma has over 25 years of experience she guides them, along with Mr.Pankaj Sharma the president of the Lexicon Group. They are supported by their R&D partners in terms of research and formulations.

CITTA - Competitors

Their competitors are brands like Himalaya baby since they are both natural brands. Price-wise their toughest competitor is SebaMed Baby.

CITTA - Recognition

CITTA is a Dermatologist Tested and Approved brand, as well as an FDA approved brand. The manufacturing is done in a GMP certified facility and most of their ingredients are either ECO-CERT, and/or COSMOS and/or NATRUE certified since they only work with the top materials vendors for enhanced quality. Their mild fragrance is IFRA - The International Fragrance Association certified as an allergen-free fragrance and hence even though they use only the smallest quality of fragrance in their formulations they still want to ensure that it causes no reactions on the baby’s sensitive skin. They also worked with the office of the Gov. of Maharashtra to provide free skincare kits to young underprivileged babies and children.

CITTA - Future Plans

They hope to make CITTA a household brand in India. They believe that every child deserves the best and it’s their duty to provide it as their products are safe and natural, inspired by Dadi Nani ke Nuskhe and backed by science. Once they are successful in making CITTA a household name in India, then they plan to export in the future too as they want to reach out to most of the children across the world with their products. Their products are of international quality and would be appreciated by the people there too.